Module Two - Narrative Illustration

In this module, we need to apply 'narrative' to our work. The work I have done so far, might have a narrative already but not to the level being asked for now.

We have a list of books from which we must choose one to illustrate. 

Book List

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

The Princess Bride – William Goldman

James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl

The Big Book of Nonsense – Colin West

The Three Mulla-Mulgars – Walter de La Mare

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkin

Northern Lights – Philip Pullman

Batman: Arkham Asylum – Grant Morrison / Dave McKean

Sin City Volume 4: That Yellow Bastard – Frank Miller

Judge Dredd: Shooters night.

Listening to the Earth Turn - Jason Aaron

Chain of Command - Andy Diggle

Nobrow – Graphic narrative – Exclusion – Sam Arthur

The Castle – Franz Kafka

Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh

Animal Farm – George Orwell

Fifty Shades of Grey – E L James

White Bones – Grahame Masterton

Blow by Blow: The story of Isabella Blow – Detmar Blow / Tom Sykes

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales – H.P Lovecraft

A Princess of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Artificial Man – Leslie Purnell Davies

Dracula – Bram Stoker

I have chosen Animal Farm by George Orwell.

George Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945 and published by Martin Secker and Warburg for Penguin books. It has been reprinted many times since and is one of the most well loved pieces of literature even today, as many of the underlying messages and satirical jibes still apply today.

Animal Farm - A Fairy Story, is anything but a children's tale, though the style in which Orwell writes and uses description is done in such as way as if he reading to a child, which could be interpreted as Orwell making yet another point within this work, that the reader needs it spelt out in such a way as to be alerted to the problem.

Orwell wrote the tale as a response to the rise of Communism in the (former) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and many of the characters in the book represent an aspect or notable person of interest from that time.

Manor Farm (as it is called before the animals come to power) is run by Mr. Jones, who is cruel to the animals under his care and lacks the ability to run the farm effectively. It isn’t long till the animals have had enough and drive Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it ‘Animal Farm’.

Following the rebellion, the days are better for the animals and all pitch in to harvest the seasons crops and care for one another, doing a much better job than the previous owner. Most of the animals do what they do best and aside from one or two, help in the upkeep of the farm. Even the pigs at first, get stuck in though stick to mostly supervisory rolls, being the most intellectual animals on the farm. They take charge of directing the workforce and innovating in their ideas, non-more so than Snowball.

Things run smoothly for a while, until one pig in particular (Napoleon) becomes hungry for power and drives Snowball from the farm, with the help of the dogs he has raised as his own private army.

It is clear by this point that Napoleon’s interests are primarily for himself and pretty soon, the farm is being run with the same level of brutality and contempt as they were under Mr. Jones, though non of the animals realise this.

By the end of the book the pigs are now so much like their previous human custodian that the other animals are unable to tell the difference anymore, but are now so beaten down and disillusioned that they do not have the will or means with which to fight back again.

Characters

Illustration by Ralph Steadman

Old Major

Old Major is the wisest animal on the farm and is the one who brings the idea of rebellion to the others.

The Major represents Karl Marx who came up with the key principles behind Communism.

Napoleon

"Napoleon was a large, rather fierce looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way." - Quote taken from Animal Farm, page 15, second paragraph.

Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin and his rise to power within Russia during the mid-1920's.

 Snowball

"Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but not considered to have the same depth of character." - Quote from Animal Farm, page 15, second paragraph.

Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, leader of the opposition during Stalins rise to power. He was deported from the country upon his defeat and was assassinated on Stalin's order in August 1940. He opposed the Stalinist bureaucracy until his death.

Boxer

“Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen-hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together.” - Quote from Animal Farm, page 6.

Boxer doesn’t represent any one person in particular, what he does symbolize is the numerous, hardy working classes of Russia. He is friendly and eager to work, taking great pride in what he is able to accomplish, however he is also some what responsible for Nepoleon’s rise to power. Out of all of the animals he is the one could have stopped it in its tracks, but didn’t have the sense to do so.

This fact is the most obvious during the first slaughter by the dogs, when one is driven by blood lust and ends up lunging for Boxer. The sturdy horse is able to render the dog immobile and is quite prepared to kill the creature if Napoleon wished it so. Instead Boxer lets the dog back up on Napoleon’s order.

This says much about the power Boxer (the people) has and if he only had the sense, he could have quite easily over-thrown the tyrannical pigs.

Benjamin

Benjamin is by far the oldest animal on the farm. He never lets himself get carried away, even after they successfully win the farm from Mr. Jones, Benjamin either refuses or simply can not get excited about their accomplishment, seeming to realise long before the finale, that the changes they have made ultimately count for nothing. There will still be hunger, hard work and hardship.

His motto throughout (which may or may not account for his cynicism) is “Donkey’s live a long time, you’ve never seen a dead donkey.” This could be interpreted as ‘he is old enough to have seen it all before’ and if that is the case, he knows that nothing really changes for the animals.

Squealer

Squealer is quite obviously Napoleon’s propaganda machine, able to (and without conscience) spin a tale to the other animals, especially if it serves the interest of Napoleon and thus, himself.

He is a coward and often absent when the farm is in need of defending or if there is hard work to be done, his talent truly is the lies he is able to wield with conviction. Some of his reasoning behind the events at the farm, for example the discontinuation of the weekly meetings are definitely hiding underhand, ulterior motives, but none of the animals can find it within themselves to argue, especially when Squealer ‘‘prances back and forth, swishing his tail’. This could be an indicator to the way Stalin used the media to bombard the people with news or events that distracted them from the real problems.

Nine Dogs

The nine dogs are the puppies that Napoleon takes away and are ‘educated’ by the aspiring boar.

The next time these misguided canines are seen is the night that Snowball is driven from the farm, with these nine vicious dogs snapping at his heels.

These dogs represent the Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (NKVD the Russian secret police). These were responsible for many disappearances of people who Stalin perceived as a threat and this is touched upon in the book several times, most notably when Napoleon has the dogs savage some of the animals who ‘confess’ to be in league with the ‘traitor’ Snowball.

Orwell also draws attention to the fact that the dogs look to Napoleon the same way they looked to Mr. Jones, with wagging tails. This is a huge indicator of the things to come by the end of the book.

Moses the Raven

Moses the Raven represents the persecution and the reinstatement of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Moses was the favorite family pet of the Jones, this refers to the union of the Tsar and the church and their relationship.

When the Jones’ are driven out, Moses disappears also, taking his tales of Sugar Candy Mountain. Sugar Candy Mountain, according to Moses is a place where animals go to after they die. It is a good place, with no work to be done and there is always enough to eat (Heaven).

Once Napoleon has a sure fast control and requires the animals to continue to defend the farm, he allows Moses and his tales to return and pays the Raven a ‘Gill of Beer’ a day. By doing this he is hoping to placate the animals as they now contend with the hardships they face under Napoleons rein. Moses becomes another kind of control.

Mollie

Mollie is pretty, vain and materialistic horse who represents the middle classes of Stalin’s Russia, the bourgeois.

From the very beginning of the book, when the rebellion is still young and not yet acted upon, Mollie’s concerns lie with whether there will be ‘sugar cubes’ and ‘ribbons’. These represent the material wealth of the bourgeois that they were asked to give up. Most did not and instead, fled to the west.

Mollie flees and joins a neighboring farm and is seen soon after, pulling a cart with the ribbons she adores once again in her mane.

Clover

Clover is the female counterpart of Boxer and likely represents the female perspective of the Russian working classes of the time.

She is more perceptive than Boxer and has many moments where she recognizes what the pigs are doing goes against what they first set out to do in the early days of the rebellion, but like Boxer she is unable to vocalize her thoughts.

“As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.”

This excerpt from the book, written from Clover’s perspective clearly states that while she understands that only terrible things are happening, she doesn’t possess the tools required in order to speak out.

Could Orwell then be saying that, if the female working classes had a political voice or a way to speak out against these atrocities, they may not have happened or could have been stopped? She is after all a horse like Boxer, strong and the second largest animal on the farm.

The Sheep

The sheep on the farm represent the masses of people who were blindly following the propaganda (Squealer). There use of short bleated mottos, like “Four legs good, two legs bad” is all these simple minded creatures were able to understand. Anything more complex was lost on them. They are easily swayed and ultimately not very intelligent because by the end of the book, Squealer has the sheep bleating “Four legs good, two legs better” just in time for when the pigs themselves start to walk on their hind trotters only…

Hen’s

The hens under Jone’s reign have their eggs taken and sold daily and are given very little food and care. When the rebellion happens they are assured that they would not have to part with their eggs anymore, so when Napoleon demands they do so, they are understandably upset and rebel. Withholding their eggs and instead choose to smash them during their own revolt.

This represents the Ukrainian peasants who revolted under Stalin who wanted them to ‘collectivize’  their produce. Instead of doing this, they choose instead to slaughter their own livestock (breaking of the eggs).

The hens are then starved and nine of them end up dying. This number is no where near the amount of Ukrainian farmers who were also starved to death under Stalin’s regime, between four and ten million peasant farmers died.

Cows

The cows represent the wealth of the farm, they produce a highly sought after commodity, milk. One the pigs at least desire and the cows are happy to supply it, they simply want to be milked.